Improved apparatus for making vinegar



A. HOEPPNER.

Making Vinegar.

Patented Oct. 16. 1866.

E f d? :Egg 2 UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE ARNOLD HOEPPNER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,823, dated October 16, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ARNOLD HonPPNER, of the city and county of St. Louis, State of Mis souri, have invented a new and useful Vinegar-Generator or Acetitier; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, and exact description thereof, and of its application, reference being had to accompanying dravvings.

'lhe nature of my invention is in the construction and application of an acetilier or generator of peculiar form and action in the fabrication of vinegar by the quick process.

It is known that recently fermented wort or acetifyin g mixtures contain gluten, and this will ordinarily remain even after acctilication to some extent, and cause the vinegar to putrify. In the usual quick processes of manufacture the Wash is passed through vessels holding shavings or chips of Wood, or corncobs, 8vo., for the purpose of increasinglargely the surface over which the Wash is spreadand affording easy access to air, thereby causing quick oxidation. New, in this passage the Wash deposits a part of its gluten and other nitrogenous impurities, such as the fungus of the vinegar-mother. Such deposits moreover increase largely by continued use of the generator. The subsequent pourings of Wash then are actually contaminated by the impurities deposited by previous pourin gs, and this eonlamination is likely to be all the more extended because the generators cannot be cleansed eX- eept by a renewal of the filling or some still more laborious process of Washing, Svc. In order to compass the advantages of the quick process of acetification and at the same time avoid (or reduce most materially) the damage done by impurities in the acetifying mixtures as aforesaid, the nature of my invention is, in detail, in the construction of a series of iiat vessels arranged with reference to one another to-eeonomize space and to permit the passage of the Wash most advantageously, the same being furthermore constructed with devices for regulating the supply of air and combined With devices for seeuring'a constant feed-flow of the Wash. It will hereinaftermore specially appear that in the construction here presented the process of cleansing is easy and can be effectively performed in short time.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my said generator, I will now describe its construction and opera-tion, referring to- Figure l, which is a perspective view, and Fig. 2, which is a vertical sectional elevation thereof, and to the letters ot reference marked thereon.

I construct the entire apparatus of wood or other material not corroded by acetic acid, joining the parts in such wise as to use no nails, bolts, Ste., of iron or other corrosive metals.

I place the generator A so as to rest within a tank or reservoir, B, which receives the acetitied Wash. I construct said generator by uniting a series of vertical posts, a, by transverse joists b; a and Z1 usuallyjoin by a simple mor tise, but every third or fourth joist, bl, should be dovetailed or otherwise secured to c to prevent separation. Between the consecutive joists b and b, and between a and c, I construct a plain tlooring, c, the single parts thereof' being tongued and grooved together or otherwise fluid-tightly joined. The joists b are notched in such manner as to permit the side boards d to pass inside of a. rIhus arc formed a series of ilat vessels, A1 A2 A3, &c., over one another, the same being divided each in a series vof compartments, O O1 O2, dac., by the joists b2 b3 b4, 85e. The Wash is received at one corner of compartment C, say, at c1; it is spread over the surface of C, and passes through one or more apertures in the partitionjoist b2 into compartment C1; moreover, the aperture e in b2 may be placed so as to cause the Wash to pass the greatest possible distance before its exit from C. In the same manner the Wash passes from O1 to O2, te., until it reaches the last compartment of each vessel A1 A2, Ste. In order to pass the Wash from one vessel to another, from A1 to A2, &c., the last compartment, C2, is perforated at the corner of A] opposite diagonally to the point of receipt c, say, at c2, a simple block of Wood With a perforation corresponding to that at c2 is placed there, being secured by Wooden nails. The wash will stand in each vessel to the height iadicated by the top of the overflow-block at c2, and owing to the feed-how the Wash will iiow in a continuous stream from the compartment O2 in A1 above to compartment C in A2 just beneath. The Wash passes over the surface of all compartments in A2, and at the diagonally opposite end of A2 from the point of entrance it passes through a similar overflow in C2 at c2 to the compartment C in A3, Ste.

It will be seen that an indefinite number of vessels, Al A2 A3, Src., may be used, and each vessel arranged with an indefinite number of compartments, C C1 G2, Ste. Thus the surface of wash exposed to the oxygenating influence of the air may be indefinitely increased and the time of the process of acetification correspondingly shortened.

It may be desirable to take the wash overflow from some distance below the surface thereof, avoiding floating' impurities. To, achieve this I construct, as shown in detail, Fig. 3, around the overtlow-block c3 a second block,c4, higher, having perforations permitting the wash to pass between c3 land c, and overflow at c2. The top of the perforations in c4 is below the top of c3; hence surface impurities are excluded. This overflow might also be made by a Siphon-tube.

In order to regulate the feed-flow of wash to the generator I use a siphon whose discharge end rests at c1, and whose influx end is secured to a float in such wise that as the level of the Wash sinks in the reservoir containing the same preparatory to acetitication the influx end may be always at the samedistance below said level of fluid, thus insuring a. constant head or height of pressure-column and a constant feed-flow.

In its passage from compartment to compartment and from vessel to vessel the wash is subjected to the oxygenating inuence of the air. In order, however, that the acidilication may ensue properly it is necessary to regulate the inflow of air between the vessels A1A2, &c. To accomplish this I arrange between the posts a a series of doors or shutters, f, the same being either hinged to a or arranged to slide vertically between said posts. By regulating the aperture by said doors f the iniux of air is regulated not only between two vessels, A1 and A2, but also between adjoining compartments, G and G1, &c.

In case it should be necessary openings may be made in the doors f, closed by adjust-able slides, which may still more effectively regulate the air-influx.

For the purpose of cleansing the floors and side of the Vessels here used from deposits, it sels and causing impurities to flow over the is only necessary to raise one edge of the generator A, thereby canting the fioors of all vesside boards d; moreover, the floors, Src., may then be easily cleansed by dashing water thereon.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim isl. The combination of a series of shallow vessels, in which by surface oxygenation the acetication of the wash is effected.

2. The combination of the vessels Al A2 A, &c., their overiow-openings c2 arranged at diagonally opposite ends, substantially as set forth.

3. The separation of each vessel A1A2 A3, Src., into compartments, C C C2, 86e., the same connecting by apertures d, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of the vessels, A1 A2 A3, Src., with shutters f, as and for the purpose set forth.

ARNOLD HOEPPNER.

Witnesses:

H. SOHEFFER, Guo. P. HERTHEL, Jr. 

